Prospective bidders in Sweden, Luxembourg and the Netherlands were making last-ditch efforts on Thursday to buy Saab, hours before a deadline set by owner General Motors to either sell or close the Swedish car maker.
After twice seeing deals to sell Saab fall apart in recent months, GM's chief executive officer Ed Whitacre indicated ahead of Thursday's 2200 GMT deadline that the U.S. auto maker was proceeding with the winding down of Saab as planned because no buyer had proved it could finance a purchase.
But fresh interest has emerged at the last minute, a Swedish source familiar with the matter said.
"I know that Swedish parties are involved," he said, adding that a meeting of Saab board members would take place on Friday, instead of on Thursday, as originally planned.
Earlier, a Swedish newspaper said two anonymous Swedish groups were likely to submit last-minute bids proposing management buy-outs of Saab.
Separately Dutch luxury car maker Spyker said it was preparing an improved bid. Asked whether Spyker will put in a bid for Saab on Thursday, chief executive officer Victor Muller said: "definitely."
"We are confident that we will put in an acceptable bid," Mr. Muller said. He did not indicate when he expected to hear back from GM.
Dagens Industri newspaper quoted Joran Hagglund, Sweden's state secretary for industry, as saying the bids are likely to meet today's deadline, though neither group had been able to show it had the financial backing necessary for a purchase.
"We have had contacts with several different groups since the 18th of December, among them three from Sweden," Mr. Hagglund told the paper. "I should think that at least two of them will submit bids to General Motors during Thursday."
"The problem is that none of them can show that they have financing in place," he said, adding that Koenigsegg, which retracted its bid late last year, was not one of the groups.
U.S. auto maker GM has set a deadline of 2200 GMT on Thursday for the sale of Saab, according Spyker, which on Monday said it would submit a final bid for Saab assets before then.
Earlier, Swedish daily Dagens Industri said the deadline was 1600 GMT.
Spyker has already revised its offer for the ailing Swedish car maker several times to address GM's concerns about the source of its financing for the deal.
Mr. Muller said last month if his offer were to succeed Saab and Spyker would operate as sister companies.
Spyker would benefit from Saab's technical resources and its distribution network, while Spyker would bring entrepreneurial skills to Saab.
"The synergies are very, very clear," Mr. Muller said.
Also, the acquisition could meet the ambitions of Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Company, which owns about 23 per cent of Spyker shares and wants to create an advanced technology industry centre in Abu Dhabi.
Analysts, however, remain cynical about how Spyker, which has never made a profit, is going to finance the offer.
Sweden's IF Metall union said in a statement there was "every chance" of a positive outcome for Saab and it expected a solid bid to materialize during the course of the day.
Nevertheless the prospects of a rescue sale looked bleak after GM's Mr. Whitacre, said on Wednesday it was proceeding with the winding down of its Swedish unit as planned because no buyer had proved it could finance a purchase.